cosmology Study of the structure of the Universe on the
largest scale. Contained within it is COSMOGONY.
Our early view of the Universe was prejudiced by the belief that we occupied a special place within it at the centre. Only in the 20th century have we realized that the Earth is but a small planet of a dim star, located in the outer suburbs of a typical galaxy. Perhaps the most important astronomical discovery of the early 20th century was HUBBLE S realization that the dim NEBULAE he observed were in fact enormous systems of thousands of millions of stars lying far outside our Galaxy. Soon after this discovery, astronomers realized that these galaxies were all receding from the Earth. Hubble, along with other astronomers, obtained optical spectra of many galaxies and found that their spectral lines were always shifted towards the red (longer wavelengths). He interpreted these REDSHIFTS as being a universal DOPPLER EFFECT, caused by the expansion of the Universe. Furthermore, the speed he inferred was found to be proportional to the galaxy s distance, a relationship known as the HUBBLE LAW. It is now known that both the shift and the speed distance proportionality follow naturally from an overall expansion of the scale size of the Universe. Galaxies are redshifted because the Universe has a different scale size now compared with the size it was when the light was emitted from the galaxies. Nevertheless, time has shown that Hubble was correct in his interpretation that the speed of recession is proportional to distance. Today, the constant of proportionality bears his name (see HUBBLE CONSTANT). Close to the Sun, the distance of galaxies can be determined from the properties of some VARIABLE STARS they contain such as the Cepheids or from the size of HII regions. As we move farther out into the Universe, however, these methods become increasingly inaccurate. Eventually, distances can only be estimated by measuring the redshift and relying on the accuracy of the Hubble relation. Unfortunately, for some of the most distant objects, such as QUASARS, we do not have adequate confirmation that this procedure for determining distances is valid. Some astronomers believe that at least part of the quasar redshifts may originate from unknown non-cosmological causes. Attempts to determine the nature of the reshifts and the expansion rate have occupied much of the available time on large telescopes. Today the question is still unresolved. However, perhaps the most important cosmological problems that remain at the beginning of the 21st century are to determine the rate at which the universal expansion is taking place (determining the Hubble constant), how it has expanded in the past and how it will continue to behave in the future. To these must be added the question of whether the overall geometry of the Universe is closed or open . In an OPEN UNIVERSE, the total volume of space is infinite, the universe has no boundary and will expand for ever. CLOSED UNIVERSES contain a finite amount of space, may or may not have boundaries and will eventually collapse back on themselves. Attempts to obtain a grand view of the Universe have led to the construction of cosmological models. A starting point for many cosmologists has been the finding that the Universe appears much the same in all directions (the socalled ISOTROPY) and at all distances (HOMOGENEITY). However, the expansion of the Universe would at first seem to suggest that the overall density of the distribution of galaxies must decrease so that they become more sparsely distributed as time goes on. Cosmological models have included the STEADY-STATE THEORY of Hermann BONDI, Thomas GOLD and Fred HOYLE in which the Universe is the same not only in all places but also at all times. It therefore had no beginning, will have no end and never changes at all when viewed on the large scale. This theory required matter to be created as the Universe expanded in order that the overall density of galaxies should not decrease. For this reason it is also referred to as the CONTINUOUS CREATION model. On the other hand, according to supporters of the BIG BANG models originally proposed by George GAMOW, Ralph Alpher (1921 ) and Robert Herman (1914 97), the whole Universe was created in a single instant about 20 billion years ago and is presently expanding (the modern consensus value is about 15 billion years). In the future it may continue to expand or possibly collapse back on itself depending on the total amount of matter and energy in it, that is, whether or not the Universe is open or closed. An important cosmological question is the MISSING MASS PROBLEM: the amount of matter we see in the Universe is far smaller (by a factor of about 100) than the amount we infer from the motions of the galaxies. Definitive observations to discriminate between cosmological models are hard to make. The most informative parts of the Universe are those farthest away. Unfortunately, the objects we observe in such regions are faint and their nature is unknown. It is extremely difficult to tell to what extent quasars, for example, are similar to the nearer and more familiar objects. And if we cannot make comparisons, we cannot use them as standards to test cosmological models. It is also not known if our Earth-derived physical laws are applicable in the Universe at large. Cosmologists have made several important discoveries, including an attempt to determine the Hubble constant. The DECELERATION PARAMETER, which determines whether the Universe will expand for ever or eventually collapse back on itself, has also been estimated. Recent observations of supernovae have shed some light on the values of these important cosmological parameters. They indicate that the Universe is probably accelerating and will never collapse back again. Another important discovery in cosmology was the COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND radiation, which provided strong evidence against the steady-state theory. Its discovery also brought with it problems of its own: we do not understand how this background radiation can be so uniform in all directions when it comes from different parts of the Universe that have never been in communication with each other. Attempts have been made to invoke a very rapid period of expansion in the Universe s history in order to remove this difficulty (the so-called inflationary universe), but these attempts appear to many cosmologists to be less than convincing (see INFLATION).